Almost Cute
by Satan Abraham
Summary: And, honestly, that awkward little blush - it was almost sort of cute. [slight tanimoto/kenichi] [oneshot]


No matter how many times Kenichi Shirahama saw Tanimoto's house, it still amazed him with how _huge _it was. Part of him still couldn't really believe that he actually lived here.

Then again, it had also taken a while for him to believe that the actor with big eyes was the sixth fist of Ragnarok. And that his little sister hung around said sixth fist of Ragnarok constantly.

Tanimoto paused with the door open and looked back. "Are you coming?" he asked. As soon as he had hit his neighborhood, he had started scowling, and the scowl only deepened now. "If you're going to be hanging around, you might as well hurry up so the door doesn't stand open all day."

"Right," Kenichi said, ducking his head and following Tanimoto inside. Tanimoto headed up to what Kenichi supposed was his room, leaving Kenichi alone in the entrance. Kenichi wasn't sure what he should do, so just shifted from foot-to-foot, bag slung over one shoulder. Maybe he should follow him.

Though Tanimoto was by now out of sight, Kenichi headed in the direction that Tanimoto had been going and got lost immediately. There had been a staircase, and he'd figured that the bedrooms would be on the second floor, but now he had hit a dead end and the two rooms nearest to him were absolutely empty.

"What are you _doing?"_

Oh thank God.

Kenichi turned around to face Tanimoto, who had changed out of school clothes and gotten rid of his bag. "Looking for you," Kenichi said. Tanimoto rolled his eyes and turned around to walk away. Kenichi followed him, quickening his step so that he wouldn't get left behind.

"So," Kenichi said. "What do you usually do? This is weird for me, I'm usually training all the time, so-"

Tanimoto didn't answer him, but the silence cut him off more resolutely than any words could have. Kenichi swallowed and sat down on the couch. He was still holding his bag, so he put it down by his feet and wondered how on earth Honoka ever got anything out of this guy. Tanimoto sat down in the chair across from him and looked directly to the left of him.

It was kind of unnerving.

"What's up with the stare?"

"I don't want you to break anything."

"I won't-"

"I know your sister. If you're anything like her, you're going to break something," Tanimoto seemed to think for a second. "And I suffer through her cooking, but I am _not _eating anything you make."

"She's twelve, give her a break."

"I do. I eat it. I'm not eating anything _you _make."

Maybe it was the light, but Kenichi Shirahama was almost one hundred percent sure that Tanimoto was blushing. He was about to point it out when Tanimoto stood up. Kenichi wasn't sure if he was going to leave, or hit him, or something else, but he did know that a blushing Natsu Tanimoto was almost cute. It was like how Takeda seemed to sparkle whenever he looked at Kenichi, or how Miu looked almost all of the time – cute.

Kenichi stood up so that they were even. Tanimoto looked a little started, but replaced that expression with the scowl soon enough. "Do you really hate me that much?"

"N- I mean, yes. Move."

"I'm not actually blocking your path," Kenichi said, glancing at the floor. Tanimoto was directly in front of him, sure, but unless he wanted to go to the couch, he could just go around him. Even if he wanted to go to the couch, he could just go around him. "Are you okay?"

Tanimoto ran a hand through his hair and sighed. Kenichi watched him, more freaked out than anything. "Just don't break anything, don't touch anything in the kitchen that takes more skill than a glass of water, and don't leave your bag on the floor," he said. He turned to leave. "And I'll be in my room. Don't bother me unless the house is burning down."

Kenichi shrugged and sat back down. There was no reason that he couldn't do some studying, right?

After about two hours, he was hungry. Maybe his body was used to the intense training and he just was always going to get hungry early now, or maybe sitting around did that to him, but he was starving.

So, ignoring almost everything that Tanimoto had said, he left his bag and books scattered around the couch and headed into the kitchen. He rifled around the cupboards for a bit, found a few things, and promptly dropped and broke a plate.

Tanimoto was downstairs faster than Kenichi would have thought possible - and he'd _fought _the guy – and immediately glared.

"Oops," Kenichi offered.

Tanimoto took a deep breath, looked like he was going to use the broken plate to cut Kenichi to pieces for a second, and then settled back into a glare that would probably kill kittens.

"Oops," Kenichi said again, and Tanimoto walked toward him. While his 'fight or flight' response had been more of a 'fight' lately, 'flight' took over and he backed up quickly. But Tanimoto just crouched down and picked up the glass.

"Get me a broom," he said. "It's in the pantry at the back of the kitchen."

Kenichi did as he asked and watched as he swept up the mess, threw away the broken plate, and turned back to Kenichi.

"Why," was all he said.

"I was hungry?" Kenichi said.

"I'll make you something," Tanimoto said, and Kenichi was pretty sure he saw that blush again.

And, yeah – it was almost cute.

* * *

><p><strong>This was requested by a user on Tumblr, who wanted a TanimotoKenichi, and it has been a long time since I've watched this show. Like. Forever. But I hope it's halfway decent?**


End file.
